; Evolutionary Biologist Professor Albert Uy examines a file of very tiny spiders in his office at SFSU. San Francisco State University has more than tripled its research budget during the past 10 years, now attracting nearly $50 million in outside funding, and is focusing on filling new faculty positions with candidates strong in research. School officials and faculty say it is consistent with their teaching mission because it infuses the campus�s teaching with the latest knowledge and provides students with opportunities for hands on learning. It also sets up a pathway to doctoral programs at other universities for their diverse population of students, they say. City:� SF, CA
Location:� .
City:� 2/5/04, in San Francisco, CA. Frederic Larson/The Chronicle;

Photo: Frederic Larson

; Evolutionary Biologist Professor Albert Uy examines a file of...

Debate on growth of research at CSU campuses / Trend seen in state university system

Dairy science Professor Nana Farkye's quest -- known as "The Sharp Cheddar Cheese Project" and funded by $559,000 from the state dairy industry - - is to make the Golden State's cheddar taste more like its East Coast rivals, which consumers favor.

Local cheesemakers and their happy cows, however, aren't the only ones interested in Farkye's undertaking.

His research and that done by thousands of other California State University professors are at the heart of a growing debate over a trend toward greater on-campus research -- as opposed to CSU's traditional mission as the teaching workhorse of the state's higher-education system.

Critics say the changes amount to "mission creep."

While no hard figures are available systemwide for CSU, university administrators and faculty members acknowledge that more professors at the 23 campuses are trading time in the classroom for time in the research lab.

"It is not clear that there is an agreement about the mission of the university (system)," said Christopher Carrington, a professor in sociology and human sexuality who has taught at San Francisco State for 10 years and has his own research projects. "I think there is tension. I'm a little nervous about some of it. There are individuals who have now been recruited who are not connected to the teaching mission."

The California State University system, with roots back to 1857, was established in its current form in 1960 by the state Master Plan for Higher Education. It mandated that CSU focus on undergraduate education, while the University of California was to continue its role as the research/teaching institution.

About 20 years ago, the master plan was revised to allow CSU professors to seek outside funding for applied research. However, Barry Munitz, president of the Getty Trust and chancellor of CSU from 1991 to 1997, said the revision wasn't supposed to take faculty out of the classroom or become more important than teaching in hiring and promotion.

"When you cross that line, you begin to undermine the historical mission of the CSU," Munitz said. "At some campuses and in some departments, that is happening. The problem is that in this country there is a single merit and prestige system. We don't really respect and reward the people who do the teaching."

Many of the CSU campuses are now aggressively pursuing external research dollars, hoping to fill the void of a shrinking state budget and to raise their visibility and prestige through publishing and scholarship.

Some examples:

-- In 1993, San Diego State University attracted $62.7 million in external funding for research and projects. Now it gets $130 million in outside funding, and its professors spend half their time doing research.

-- San Francisco State appears to be on the same path, having nearly quadrupled its budget for research and projects during the past 10 years -- attracting nearly $50 million in outside funding in 2002-03.

-- San Jose State University's research and projects budget has grown about 60 percent, from $26 million 10 years ago to $42 million in 2002-03.

-- Cal Poly got about $13.5 million in grants and contracts for research in 2002-03. Officials sat down with the school's deans this month to find out why they haven't been as successful in attracting outside money as some other institutions. The deans were encouraged to more aggressively pursue research funding.

There currently are no formal checks and balances within the CSU system to ensure that things don't tip too far toward research. And it's an issue that has caught at least one key state legislator off guard.

"The principal purpose of the CSU is teaching, and that is why kids go --

because they get more attention in the classroom," said Assemblywoman Carol Liu, the Democrat from La Canada Flintridge (Los Angeles County) who heads the Assembly committee on higher education. "It may be that there is more (research) going on out there than the Legislature knows about. If it is changing, we need to talk about it. We do have a framework in place that quite clearly spells out the mission."

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed supports the current level of research at his campuses. He said it provides students with opportunities for hands-on learning and prepares a diverse population for doctoral programs while making faculty competitive in their fields nationally and internationally.

"We are not going to get out of alignment, because our focus is teaching and undergraduate education," Reed said. "We are not taking money and resources away from undergraduate education. The research is additive. It is a win-win for us."

But others who have studied the matter nationally say the lure of research can be powerful.

While university officials may start with the noblest causes, the incentives to push research are strong, said Frank Newman, director of the Futures Project, a higher-education think tank at Brown University.

The outside income stream from research is attractive for universities, he added, especially as they face shrinking funding from state sources. And professors who get a taste of a reduced teaching load often see research as a path to a better life.

"What people are suggesting is, why don't we get our toes in the water maybe up to our kneecaps? The problem is, it is difficult to stay there," Newman said. "The tendency of these institutions is saying, 'We are good at this -- why don't we go up to our chest?' and then there is a push to go all the way.

"Before long, you are doing what the research universities are doing. You are focusing your energies and your resources on research," he said.

At some CSU campuses, new professors and instructors are lured with the promise of time to do research. As a result, they are spending more time out of the classroom, replaced with lecturers while they research everything from the "effects of food quality on insect population dynamics" to the gay club party circuit.

San Francisco State assistant biology professor Albert Uy said he would not have taken a job that did not give him time for research.

It keeps him interested in teaching, he said, adding that he is teaching individual students through his research. He just returned from Panama, where he helped three graduate students set up to study the diversity in birds and whether they are evolving into new species.

He also is breeding Arrowhead spiders in test tubes on his desk in order to study whether differences in color are the result of environmental and predatory factors.

Although he teaches a reduced load of two classes a semester, he said his research ties directly into what he is teaching and provides him with current and real-life examples for his students.

"It is sort of nice to show them evolution is happening right now, and we are studying it. It is nice for them to see that the professors are active in research and are just not regurgitating what other people have done," Uy said.

Carrington, the S.F. State sociology professor, said he has found that faculty research is not always directly linked to what the faculty is teaching. For example, he said his research on the gay club party circuit relates to the sexuality and HIV courses he teaches, but acknowledged that it doesn't have a direct impact on the classroom.

And neuroscientist Thomas R. Scott, dean of the College of Sciences and interim associate vice president for research at San Diego State University, concedes that he spends only about five minutes a semester during the general psychology course he teaches on the topic that he researches: the orbital frontal cortex of the brain.

"Historically, CSU research has always had a focus on the classroom, but now we have seen the emergence of a research agenda that is not focused on what is going on in the classroom. It is a bigger policy issue that needs to be looked at," Carrington said.

S.F. State psychology student Candace Loving, 22, said she doesn't believe that students are shortchanged when professors do research and lecturers teach the classes. She said her favorite teacher was a lecturer in ethnic studies.

"Some of my professors are involved in research, and it limits their office hours and the extra time you can spend with them," Loving said. "But I don't necessarily think it is a bad thing. A lot of times it gives them a real- life example. A lot of the research is relevant to the course."